Showing posts with label Illinois. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Illinois. Show all posts
Friday, June 16, 2023
Illinois Is the First US State to Outlaw Book Bans
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
BBC: Illinois has become the 16th US state to abolish the death penalty, after the governor signed a bill making permanent a 10-year-old moratorium on executions.
Governor Pat Quinn signed the bill after spending two months consulting with victims' families, prosecutors, religious leaders and others.
Former Governor George Ryan ordered a moratorium in 2000 amid concerns innocent people could be executed.
Thirty-four states still have the death penalty. >>> | Wednesday, March 09, 2011
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
CATHOLIC CULTURE: Following a student complaint, the University of Illinois refused to renew the contract of Dr. Kenneth Howell, an adjunct religion professor, who wrote in an e-mail that “Natural Moral Law says that Morality must be a response to REALITY” and that “sexual acts are only appropriate for people who are complementary, not the same.” Dr. Howell, who taught courses on Catholicism at the university and was recognized for excellence in teaching in 2008 and 2009, wrote the e-mail to his students to help them prepare for their final exam; in the e-mail, he compared utilitarianism and the natural moral law.
“Teaching a student about the tenets of a religion is one thing. Declaring that homosexual acts violate the natural laws of man is another,” the offended student complained to the head of the religion department; he also sent complaints to the director of the university's LGBT Resource Center and the professor who founded the university’s queer studies major. “The courses at this institution should be geared to contribute to the public discourse and promote independent thought; not limit one's worldview and ostracize people of a certain sexual orientation.” Read on and comment >>> | Monday, July 12, 2010
FOX NEWS: University of Illinois Instructor Fired Over Catholic Beliefs: URBANA, Ill. -- The University of Illinois has fired an adjunct professor who taught courses on Catholicism after a student accused the instructor of engaging in hate speech by saying he agrees with the church's teaching that homosexual sex is immoral.
The professor, Ken Howell of Champaign, said his firing violates his academic freedom. He also lost his job at an on-campus Catholic center. >>> Associated Press | Friday, July 09, 2010
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
LOS ANGELES TIMES: When cryptic posters portraying President Obama as the Joker from "Batman" began popping up around Los Angeles and other cities, the question many asked was, Who is behind the image?
Was it an ultra-conservative grassroots group or a disgruntled street artist going against the grain?
Nope, it turns out, just a 20-year-old college student from Chicago.
Bored during his winter school break, Firas Alkhateeb, a senior history major at the University of Illinois, crafted the picture of Obama with the recognizable clown makeup using Adobe's Photoshop software.
Alkhateeb had been tinkering with the program to improve the looks of photos he had taken on his clunky Kodak camera. The Joker project was his grandest undertaking yet. Using a tutorial he'd found online about how to "Jokerize" portraits, he downloaded the October 23 Time Magazine cover of Obama and began digitally painting over it.
Four or five hours later, he happily had his product.
On Jan. 18, Alkhateeb uploaded the image to photo-sharing site Flickr (shown at right). Over the next two months, he amassed just a couple thousand hits, he said.
Then the counter exploded after a still-anonymous rogue famously found his image, digitally removed the references to Time Magazine, captioned the picture with the word "socialism" and hung printed copies around L.A., making headlines.
Alkhateeb's original Flickr page surpassed 20,000 views. The Times found his Flickr site last week thanks to a tip left by a loyal reader of The Ticket. By Friday, the page had been taken down.
On Alkhateeb's page, a manipulated image condemning fellow Chicagoan and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel (captioned "epic fail") was mixed in with parodies of the "Guitar Hero" game franchises -- dubbed Quran Hero -- and of Napoleon riding a motorcycle (pictured after the jump).
Flickr had removed the Joker image due to copyright-infringement concerns, Alkhateeb says the company told him in an e-mail. A Flickr spokeswoman declined to comment due to a company policy that bars discussing inquiries about individual users.
Alkhateeb says he wasn't actively trying to cover his tracks, but he did want to lay low. He initially had concerns about ... ... connecting his name with anything critical of the president -- especially living in Chicago, where people are "very, very liberal," he said.
"After Obama was elected, you had all of these people who basically saw him as the second coming of Christ," Alkhateeb said. "From my perspective, there wasn't much substance to him."
"I abstained from voting in November," he wrote in an e-mail. "Living in Illinois, my vote means close to nothing as there was no chance Obama would not win the state." If he had to choose a politician to support, Alkhateeb said, it would be Ohio Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich. >>> Mark Milian | Monday, August 17, 2009
Friday, August 22, 2008
CBS2CHICAGO.COM: FRANKFORT, Ill. ― An anti-Muslim e-mail allegedly forwarded by an elected official is creating an uproar in the southwest suburbs.
The American Islamic Association invited pastors, rabbis and other religious leaders in its mosque in Frankfort to discuss an e-mail sent by Frankfort Township Assessor Paul Ruff.
The e-mail called on Muslims who want to live under Islamic law to "get out of the country."
Religious leaders say the sentiment presented in the e-mail demonstrates a dangerous lack of understanding.
"To make these kind of comments against a group of people who are so loving, and so caring – I was very, very offended by that," said Jan Shaulis, Christian co-chair of the Southwestern Interfaith Team.
"We need to go together forward, not by spreading hate, but by understanding and building bridges," added Khalid Mozaffer of the American Islamic Association.
The group also tried to meet with Ruff, but he declined to talk about the issue. [Source: Religious Leaders Infuriated by Anti-Muslim E-Mail: E-Mail Was Allegedly Forwarded by Frankfort Township Assessor]
CHICAGO TRIBUNE: Despite outrage from the local Muslim community, a Frankfort Township official did not apologize Wednesday for circulating an e-mail with anti-Islamic sentiments.
"The e-mail's basic message was that people coming to this country should adapt," Township Assessor Paul Ruff said in a statement. "This wasn't a hateful e-mail, but one that touched upon a sentiment in this country and around the world that immigrants have to adapt to their new homes."
Statements in the e-mail were attributed to former Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who a few years ago ignited controversy with criticism of Islam and statements asserting that immigrants need to adapt to their new country.
Ruff said he did not write the content of the e-mail, and its origins were unknown.
The flap has drawn the ire of the Council on American-Islamic Relations of Chicago and members of a mosque in Frankfort, prompting residents and religious leaders to hold a town hall meeting last week to discuss discrimination against Muslims. Ruff did not attend the meeting. Frankfort Township Assessor Paul Ruff Stands By E-Mail on Islam, Immigrants: Official does not apologize for distributing missive in June >>> By Mary Owen, Chicago Tribune reporter | August 20, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (US) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (US) >>>
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)